Fire-escape.



H. GROTEAU.

FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLIOATION FILED 00130, 1012.

Patented Dec. 16, 1913 SHEET 1.

2 SHEETS By ATTORNEYS H. GROTEAU.

FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED 001.230.1912.

Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES A? u Jm m 6 7% am m W ATTORNEYS UNIT HERMAN CROTEAU, OF MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, HERMAN CnoTnAU, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and Improved Fire-l3lscape, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My improvement relates to fire escapes, and the object thereof is to devise apparatus of this type which can be mounted upon almost any type of building and afford a ready and convenient means for permitting the occupants of the upper floor to lower themselves to the ground.

The invention is so constructed that it requires but little power to operate the same, and is preferably in the form of an endless carrier moving over pulley wheels at the top and bottom, and being provided with rungs on which the persons escaping from the building can support themselves.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part o1 this speci fieation, in which the same characters of relerence indicate the same parts in all the views.

Figure l is a side view showing my fire escape in elevation, part of the building in which the same is mounted being shown. in section; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the carrier which forms the central part of my fire escape, some of the parts being shown in section; Fig. 3 is a detail view; Fig. 1- is a sectional view on the line 41 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the guide on which the carrier moves inside the building; Fig. (3 is a side elevation of some of the parts shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 7 is a view of a platform adjacent the windows of a building provided with my fire escape, to enable the occupants of the building to reach the floor; and Fig. 8 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of certain details.

My fire escape can be used on a building of any type having a wall 1 With windows 2, and it is arranged so as to run a ong the front of the wall 1 and pass through an opening in the roof 3, behind the cornice 4-,. Polygonal wheels 5 are mounted at the top and bottom of the fire escape and serve as guides or supports over which the carrier travels. The top of the fire escape is protected by means of a cover 6. The portion of the carrier which is adjacent the wall 2 is provided with a guide or channel 7, this Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 30, 1912.

Patented Dec. 16, 1913. Serial No. 728,679.

guide being square in cross-section, but having an open side in front, through which the rungs ot' the eonveyer project. The other portion of the conveyor passes through a line 7 which shields the eonveyer inside of the building.

The conveyer is made up of a number of links 8 seemed together by pivots 9. These links are arranged in pairs, each pair being alternately held together and spaced apart, as shown in Fig. 5, and the pivot pins 9 carry at their outer ends rollers 10 which engage the front of the casing 7. The pivot pins 9 also carry outwardlyextending arms or rungs 11 which are channel-shaped in cross-section so as to combine lightness and strength, and have pivotally secured to their outer ends cylindrical sleeves 12. These sleeves hang downward from the end of each rung or arm 11 upon pins 13, and they give passage to rods or stems 14: which are received by the sleeves 12 depending from the next upper rung in each case in telescoping engagement. These rods have eyelets at their ends, so as to be pivotally mounted upon the pins 13, and each rung will then support one sleeve and one red or stem, the sleeve and rod extending in opposite directions, as shown.

Each sleeve 12 has perforated ears or projections 15 at its upper end to give passage to the pin 13, and the pivoted end of the rod or stem 14; is located between these cars, as shown in Fig. (3. Further, the pivoted ends of each sleeve 12 and each rod 14: have projections which extend outward from the ends of the rungs 11, and serve a purpose which will be described later.

llach oi the arms 11 has its outer end connected by means oil a flexible support or brace 17 to the pivot pin 9, behind the arm, referring to the direction in which the conveycr moves when it is in use. in other words, the braces 17 will serve to support the outer ends of the arms when the portion oi the conveyor which is adjacent the wall 2 is moving dmvnward to carry the occupants ol the building to the ground.

Arranged adjacent each of the windows 2 is a platform which is supported by a brace 18. This platform comprises a front 19 and. a bottom 20 pivotally secured together, and the front 19 is prevented from swinging out by a link 21. Another link 22, arranged to connect with the bottom opposite the side to which the link 18 is secured,

assists in supporting the bottom 20 of this platform.

.1 also employ a belt 23 having apertures 24: therein, and passing over guide pulleys 25. This belt incloses the conveyor, and the apertures serve to receive projections 26 and 27 from the ends of the tubes 12, and the ends of the rods 11. These projections pass through apertures 24-, and provide engagement between the belt and each of the arms or rungs 11. Consequently, when the conveyer is not in use the belt 23 can be manipulated so as to raise all of the arms or rungs to vertical position; that is, fold them up into the casing T, where they will be out of the way. This folding of course extends over the length of the conveyer and brings the rungs 11 against the links 8, so as to cause the conveyor to be housed by the casing T. as far as the casing extends.

it will be seen that when the bars 11 are horizontal the projections 26 and 27 diverge, and thus the belt 2 3 is prevented from moving out of engagement with the ends of the arms 11. li'hen the belt is moved to the left the arms 1.1 and tubes 12 are moved so as to make an acute angle with each other without the rods 11 being moved out of a vertical plane, owing to the engagement of the same with the pivot pin 13. This moves the projections 26 and 27 into parallel position so that they can be withdrawn from the openings and 24: in the belt. This \-.'ithdra\\'al, however, will not in any way interfere with the action of the belt, because the lower pulley 25 is spring actuated and tends to force the belt toward the links 8. The upper pulley 25 may be mounted in the same way. As a consequence, after the arms 11 have been once lifted out of a horizontal plane, the further movement of the belt in the same direction combining with the ac tion of the spring pulleys completes the folding action. Likewise the platforms adj acent the windows can be folded up simply by detaching the links 18, 21 and 22, allowing the bottom and side to fold together and then raising the same into the window opening.

The action of my invention will be apparent. Tn e: se of fire the platforms dropped into operative position and secured by the links 18, 21 and 22, and the occupants of each story step through the windows onto 1 these platforms to reach the conveyor on the outside of the building. From the platform a person can step to one of the rungs 11, and the weight of the person will be sutiicient to cause the section of the conveyer on the front of the building to descend, the outer end of the arm or rung 11 carrying the persons weight being supported by the brace 17. The person thus escaping can hold on by the upper rung 11 or by the easing 12. A suitable brake shown at 28 will be connected to the lower wheel 5 to prevent the too rapid descent of the conveyor in case a number of persons reach the same simul-- taneously.

It will be seen that the faces of the wheels 5 are approximately the same length as the links 8, and these wheels will of course be provided with suitable flanges to prevent the links 8 from slipping off the same.

@rdinarily, I preferably arrange the belt 23 so that the same will not slip off the projections 26 and 27. This will be prevented by the diverging projections when the rungs or arms 11 are horizontal, and the action of the spring on the pulley 0r pulleys 25, which will tend to force the belt toward the channel or guide 7 on the outside of the building,

and at the same time tend to draw this belt toward the links 8 in the flue or casing 7 on the inside the building, will have the result of keeping the belt against the outer ends of the arms or rungs 11, even though the projections 26 and 27 move in parallel position. These projections will no longer intersect the belt 23 at substantially rightangles. Consequently, the folding will be completed without the disengagement of the belt with the conveyer, and then should the fire escape be required later, the belt can be given a downward pull by the first persons to reach one of the platforms adjacent the windows 2, to throw all the arms 11 into horizontal or projecting position. In this way the fire escape is made ready for use.

In case the weight of the escaping people is not suflicient to operate the conveyer 1 can of course use an electric motor controlled by a. switch at every floor, to maintain a uniform speed, with the aid of the brake. However, 1 do not wish to make any claim to the operating mechanism for my fire escape in this application.

I wish to have it understood that the above description is illustrative only, and discloses but one embodiment of my inven tion, and I do not care to be limited to the exact details shown and described, but reserve tomyself the right to make such changes in the shape, size and arrangement of the parts as fairly fall within the scope and spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a fire escape apparatus, the combination of an endless conveyer adapted to be vertically mounted in a building, a plurality of arms pivotally connected to the conveyor to project outward therefrom, a sliding connection bet-ween the outer ends of adjacent arms and means connected to the conveyor and to the outer ends of thearms to support said arms to bear the weight of the occupants of the building.

2. In a fire escape, the combination of a conveyer comprising a plurality of links pivoted together, outwardly projecting arms mounted on the pivots of the links, a roller on each end of each pivot of the links and arms, means connecting the outer ends of the arms with the conveyer, and a slotted casing inclosing the conveyer and through the slot of which the arms project, the said rollers engaging the inner front face of the said casing.

3. In a lire escape, the combination of an endless conveyer, arms pivotally connected thereto and extending outward therefrom, a tube or sleeve pivotally connected to the outer end of each arm and extending therefrom in one direction, and a rod pivotally connected to the outer end of each arm to extend therefrom in another direction to be received into telescoping engagement by the tube or sleeve secured to the adjacent arm.

l. In a fire escape, the combination of an endless conveyer having arms or rungs projecting outward therefrom, means connected to the outer ends of the arms and to the conveyer to support the same, a tubular casing pivotally connected to the outer end of each arm to extend in one direction, a rod pivotally connected to the outer end of each arm to extend in the other direction and be re ceived in telescoping engagement by the casing connected to an adjacent arm, said casings and said rods having projections extending outward from the end of the arm at their pivoted ends, and an endless belt having apertures receiving said projections, said projections being normally in diverging relation to prevent disengagement from the belt, the belt serving to fold up the arms against the conveyer when the fire escape is not needed.

5. In a fire escape, the combination of an endless conveyer, arms pivoted to the conveyer and extending outwardly therefrom, means for connecting the outer ends of the arms with the conveyer, a tube or sleeve pivoted to the outer end of each arm, each tube having perforated and spaced ears to receive its pivot pin, and a rod pivoted to the outer end of each arm between the ears of the tube or sleeve to extend in an opposite direction to that of the said sleeve or tube, the said rods telescopin in the tubes.

6. In a fire escape, the combination of a conveyer comprising links having arms pivotally connected thereto and extending outward therefrom, a belt having apertures to engage the outer ends of said arms to en able said arms to be folded up against the links when the conveyor is not required for use, and a spring-pressed pulley engaging said belt to move the same toward the conveyer.

7. In a fire escape, the combination of a conveyer, arms pivoted to the conveyer and extending outwardly therefrom, means for connecting the outer ends of the arms with the conveyer, a tube pivoted to the outer end of each arm and having a projection at its pivoted end, a rod pivoted to the outer end of each arm and extending in an opposite direction to that of the tube, the rods having a projection at their pivoted ends and telescoping in the tubes, and a belt provided with apertures through which the projections of the tubes and rods project.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERMAN CROTEAU.

Witnesses:

DELIA Bonsonn'r, Jos. BRASSARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). 0. 

